# Yael Katz

> Yael Katz is a scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded BrainCheck and formerly served as its CEO. She now leads Simbryo. Her career includes Northwestern doctoral training, Princeton postdoctoral research on collective behavior, an early commercial role at JW Player and the founding of laboratory software venture CountVision. Her first business grew from teenage swimming lessons into a summer camp.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Simbryo Technologies, Inc.
- **Organizations:** Simbryo Technologies, Inc., BrainCheck, CountVision, JW Player, Princeton University, Northwestern University, Rice Business
- **Education:** BA, Physics and Astronomy; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (dual major), University of Pennsylvania, PhD, Biological Sciences, with a focus on Computational and Experimental Neuroscience, Northwestern University, Postdoctoral research, Biological Informatics and Collective Behavior, Princeton University
- **Known for:** Co-founded BrainCheck and led the company as CEO during its early financing and growth., BrainCheck won Hatch Pitch in 2016., First author of the 2011 PNAS paper on interactions in schooling fish.

## Career timeline

- **2001** — CUNY reported Camp H2O, co-started by Rivka Eizik and Yael Katz, had grown into a licensed summer camp in Spring Valley, New York.
- **2008-2011** — Postdoctoral research at Princeton University.
- **2011** — First author of a PNAS paper investigating interactions in schooling fish.
- **2012-2014** — VP of Ecommerce at JW Player.
- **2013** — Co-authored a PLOS Computational Biology paper on collective states in schooling fish; founded CountVision.
- **2015** — Co-founded BrainCheck with David Eagleman.
- **2016** — BrainCheck won Hatch Pitch; Katz was a Springboard Tech Innovation Program participant.
- **2019** — BrainCheck announced an $8 million Series A.
- **2021** — BrainCheck announced a $10 million Series B co-led by S3 Ventures and Next Coast Ventures.
- **2023** — BrainCheck appointed Kim Rodriguez as CEO in March; Katz founded Simbryo.
- **2025** — Iain Couzin’s CV identified Katz as an entrepreneur in residence at Rice University Business School.

## Achievements

- Co-founded BrainCheck and led the company as CEO during its early financing and growth.
- BrainCheck won Hatch Pitch in 2016.
- First author of the 2011 PNAS paper on interactions in schooling fish.
- Founded CountVision, a laboratory image-analysis software venture.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — A July 27 Form D filing for Simbryo named Katz as chief executive officer and director.
- **2025-06** — Couzin’s June 2025 CV listed Katz as Simbryo founder and CEO, BrainCheck co-founder and former CEO, and entrepreneur in residence at Rice.

## Links

- Website: https://www.simbryotech.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yael-katz-tx

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/yael-katz
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25